


A Sensational Story

by Srikanth1808, White_Squirrel



Series: Dramatic Reading [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: About five percent quotations, Actual plot, Characters Reading Harry Potter Books, Gen, Hilarity Ensues, Reasonable Pacing, Reverse Parody?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-04-07 14:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14082594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Srikanth1808/pseuds/Srikanth1808, https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Squirrel/pseuds/White_Squirrel
Summary: The sequel to "A Dramatic Reading" by White Squirrel - join Hogwarts and invited Ministry guests as they continue with a public reading of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", by J.K. Rowling. Features an actual plot, realistic reactions, decent pacing, *minimal quotations*, and White Squirrel's permission.





	1. Dumbledore: The Worst Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Recognizable portions in this chapter have been taken from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. I neither own nor intend to make any profit from the use of Harry Potter and the associated characters of the series, in my story.

'You know what? I've changed my mind.'

It was Friday evening, and the Gryffindors were lounging in their common room after a rather hectic day, made especially more so given the greatest shake-up that Hogwarts had had for her staff in generations.

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry. 'Come again?' said Ron.

'I've changed my mind,' repeated Harry.

'Finally!' grinned Fred.

'We've been telling you to get a new one for ages, mate!' said George.

Harry glared half-heartedly at them, but he was saved from reprimanding the Weasley twins by the fierce stare of Ginny, which caused them to immediately shut their mouths.

'What have you changed your mind about?' asked Hermione interestedly.

'I know I told Madam Bones to have a look at the other books,' began Harry; immediately, the rest of them perked up curiously, 'but I think we should continue with a public reading of the rest.'

They stared at him.

'You-you want the rest of the books to be read out loud?' asked Ginny slowly. 'In public? In front of everyone?'

'Well, usually that's what a public reading means, Gin-Gin,' said Fred, a mischievous smile creeping up on his face, but another glare from Ginny quelled it instantly.

'Why not? It'll be better if everyone gets to know what exactly happened in the last few years at Hogwarts. Not all the books, mind you,' added Harry, 'just the ones that cover everything that's already happened.'

'But Harry –' said Hermione uncertainly, as she worried her bottom lip. 'Won't it seem like you're actually – erm – actively seeking attention? Not that you are, of course,' she hastened to add, 'but it doesn't really paint a good picture of you. And you saw what it did to the school and Dumbledore.'

'This is different, Hermione,' insisted Harry. 'If the rest of them are anything like the first book, they'll contain loads of details and events that need to be known by everyone.' He paused as Hermione considered that, and then said, 'Especially our third year.'

Ron's eyes widened from his position on the armchair. 'That's actually a good idea, you know,' he said. 'And – wait, think of what the second book would do for Lucius Malfoy!'

Harry nodded in agreement. 'We'd be able to conclusively prove that he slipped that diary to Ginny.'

Ginny paled at the mention of the diary, as memories from her disastrous first year flooded back to her. 'That'll show…that'll show everything that happened, wouldn't it?' she whispered fearfully.

Harry turned to look at her; she looked so small and scared all of a sudden; he was tempted to pull her into a comforting hug, but instead settled on wrapping his arm around her and squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. 'I know it's a lot to ask for, but Lucius Malfoy can finally be charged for giving you a dangerous magical item. The Ministry would have to take note of it, especially after the ruckus they kicked up with the Mirror of Erised.'

'It's just…' said Ginny, her brown eyes wide and bright. 'I don't want everyone to know…'

'I promise,' said Harry earnestly, and it seemed to everyone in the vicinity that he really meant it, 'the only thing that people will know is that Voldemort tried to control you, but you fought back, and won.'

'With a little help from your childhood hero, of course,' chipped in George, and promptly received a thump on the back of his head from Hermione. 'Ouch!'

'Shush!'

Ginny looked around at the five others seated next to her, and felt a sudden rush of gratitude towards all of them – her family, and her friends. She gave a weak grin, and that was as good a start as anything.

Plus, it might just help her to get over those horrendous events once and for all.

'But, Harry –' said Hermione again, 'the Polyjuice, Harry! And Lockhart – and Aragog! D'you think the Ministry would just sit back and listen to all of it without doing anything?'

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but he was beaten to it by Ron.

'What can they do – arrest us? Not bloody likely,' he said sagely. 'We can always make the same deal that we made with Umbridge for the first book – we'll finish it, and then let them take whatever action they want to.'

'That's a risky play, little bro,' pointed out Fred.

'Yeah, you don't know how they might react to whatever did happen that year,' agreed George.

'It'll be worth it,' said Harry firmly. 'Look, I realise there could be complications with this plan, but it'll reveal so much more. Plus, it'll put a lot of rumours of those years to rest by confirming an accurate version of events – and we all know what people did when they didn't have an accurate version to rely upon,' he finished darkly.

No one needed Harry to repeat that statement: their entire year up to last Saturday had been proof of it.

'And how will you convince Professor McGonagall about the need for this reading?' asked Hermione.

Ron frowned a bit at that, but Harry was ready with a reply.

'The truth – with this reading, we could convict Lucius Malfoy of giving the diary to Ginny. They wouldn't say no to it, not with Malfoy's current position in the Ministry and with Voldemort.'

'Well, I suppose…' said Hermione, but she still seemed uncertain.

'You've unbelievable, you are,' said Harry, shaking his head. He turned to Ron. 'What do you think?'

'I'm all for it, Harry,' said Ron with a wide grin. 'Anything to catch Malfoy would do – plus we can vindicate Sirius as well.'

'We're in too, Harry,' said Fred enthusiastically.

'Just in case you were wondering,' added George with a nod.

Harry turned to Ginny, who smiled at him. 'Let's just get this over with.'

* * *

The following Monday morning dawned bright and clear. The atmosphere in the Great Hall resembled that of the first day of Hogwarts for most of the students – for the first time in several years, they were about to have lessons with different teachers; and despite their outwardly grumbling attitude towards their classes, the majority of the students were secretly quite interested and eagerly anticipating their new professors.

All of those hopes came crashing down when Professor McGonagall rose from her chair in the middle of the staff table and made her announcement.

'Attention, please,' she called out, and the noise levels in the Great Hall died down at once. 'Following on from the events of last week, and based on discussions that the Hogwarts staff has had with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic, we have decided to continue with the public reading of the next book –'

'There's more than one?' came a shout from someone in the Hall.

Professor McGonagall gave a stern look at the source of the interruption, before continuing. 'Yes, there is more than one book. All of us believe that this would be beneficial in more ways than one – not least in putting some extremely outlandish and, should I say ridiculous, rumours to bed, regarding the events of prior years.'

Harry noted, with a small amount of amusement, that the Hogwarts Headmistress was repeating what Hermione had provided as a plausible explanation for the public reading, almost verbatim. They had had a surprisingly easy time convincing Professors McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore about the need for a public reading for the subsequent books. Naturally, they had all agreed that the true objective of this public reading – to get Lucius Malfoy out of the picture – was not to be revealed to anybody at all.

It seemed to work, however: there were a lot of students shifting in their seats and looking slightly guilty when the rumours were brought up. Harry shook his head in resignation – the wizarding world could be so gullible at times. Honestly, strangling a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets with his bare hands?

'Due to this, we have decided to cancel all morning classes, for the next three days,' said Professor McGonagall. 'We aim to finish this by lunch-time on Wednesday, with your co-operation.'

Whispers sounded around the Hall at the mention of classes being cancelled, again. Some of the older students looked particularly worried – with the N.E.W.T.s coming up, they needed every minute they could get to revise their subjects. They did not, however, want to miss the public reading, not when it seemed so important for both the Hogwarts staff and the Ministry.

Their concerns were assuaged, however, by a rather magnanimous gesture by the Ministry, when McGonagall announced that the N.E.W.T.s and the O.W.L.s would be postponed to a later date – yet to be determined, apparently – based on the ramifications of these public readings.

'Very well, then,' said McGonagall. She clapped her hands, and the doors to the Great Hall opened, allowing entry for Madam Bones and her Auror entourage. They took their seats at a table near the staff table, where just a week earlier, Fudge and his colleagues had sat.

'Good morning, Amelia,' greeted McGonagall.

'Good morning, Minerva,' boomed Madam Bones, her loud voice echoing across the Hall. 'Shall we begin?'

'Yes, of course,' replied McGonagall. 'We shall proceed in order of seniority, as before. Professor Dumbledore, if you would please.' She turned to the former Headmaster of Hogwarts School – the only one to hold such a title while still alive – and handed him a colourful hard-backed book, not unlike the first book that had been read last week.

'The title of this book,' called McGonagall as she passed the book to her colleague, 'is _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_.'

There were definitely a few hushed gasps this time, along with the buzz that filled the hall at McGonagall's words. The events surrounding the Chamber of Secrets were known to most of the students and staff; unfortunately, it had been embellished so much that no one was quite sure what had exactly happened. But it was definitely certain that that year – with the attacks and the constant threat – was one of the worst years at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. 'Thank you, Professor McGonagall,' he said kindly. Then, he flipped open the book, and began reading out the first chapter. ' _Chapter 1: The Worst Birthday._

' _Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive.'_

'Oh yeah, I remember that argument,' sighed Harry.

'What was it about?' asked Ginny.

'Uncle Vernon had locked up Hedwig almost immediately after I'd gotten back from school for the holidays. She'd woken him up in the morning, and well…he's not exactly a morning person.'

Ginny patted his arm sympathetically.

The reactions of the Dursleys to Harry's use of the word "magic" seemed quite over the top, but amusing too – especially the description of Dudley and his enormous size. Given that Harry's uncle had actually threatened to "stomp the magic out of him" before his first year had begun, his irrational fear of the mention of magic and anything to do with the wizarding world came as a surprise to no one in the Great Hall. There were, however, more than a handful of people who knew exactly how Harry had felt about missing Hogwarts – after all was said and done, their school was still a wonderful place.

' _What did the Dursleys care if Harry lost his place in the house Quidditch team because he hadn't practised all summer?'_ read Dumbledore in his baritone.

'Has that ever happened?' asked Sprout. 'Losing your place because you haven't practised?'

'Not to my knowledge,' said McGonagall. 'In any case, Mr Potter would not have been able to practise Quidditch in a Muggle neighbourhood – it's against the law.'

Down at the Gryffindor table, Fred and George were snickering at Harry's thoughts of getting kicked off the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Harry's face burned with embarrassment at his twelve-year-old self's worries, but he refrained from firing a retort.

' _The Dursleys hadn't even remembered that today happened to be Harry's twelfth birthday. Of course, his hopes hadn't been high; they'd never given him a proper present, let alone a cake – but to ignore it completely…'_

Albus Dumbledore was feeling slightly doubtful about this idea of Harry's, as he continued reading. He knew he should have checked on Harry once in a while after he'd left him on his aunt's doorstep, but it had seemed unimportant and unnecessary then. Especially with Mrs Figg giving him regular reports that the boy was safe and fine, albeit a little skinny and runty for his age. But now, when the Dursleys' transgressions in terms of taking care of Harry as their own child had been revealed to the public, and Harry's own feelings of loneliness became evident to all, Dumbledore was seriously considering making this a private reading instead. His guilt at failing Harry, more than anything else, was making him contemplate that course of action.

But he could not back away now. His mistakes from Harry's first year had been made public, and while he had legal immunity, it would do no good for him to express any dissent over Harry's plan. He owed the boy that much.

Plus, if what Harry was saying was true, a lot of revelations could come with a reading of this book.

And so, he continued.

Harry grinned at the expressions of disgust on the faces of his friends and the staff, as Dumbledore went through Dudley's imitations of how he would behave with the Masons, who were due to arrive that evening. They did have a laugh, however, over the Dursleys' fear of being turned into dung beetles ('Blast-Ended Skrewts might have been a better choice, mate,' said Ron), and imagining the giant form of Dudley running away as Harry muttered nonsense under his breath.

'They really have no clue about magic, do they?' whispered Parvati.

'Not in the least,' replied Harry, still grinning.

' _More than anything else at Hogwarts, more even than playing Quidditch, Harry missed his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.'_

'What?'

'Even more than playing Quidditch?'

'It's a scandal!'

'An outrage!'

'A disgrace!'

'Such dishonour!'

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny rolled their eyes at the twins' antics, who apparently couldn't stomach the fact that he, Harry, had missed his friends more than playing Quidditch. Thankfully, it was stopped by Angelina and Alicia bumping the twins' heads together, causing them to go 'Ow!'

' _They, however, didn't seem to be missing him at all. Neither of them had written to him all summer, even though Ron had said he was going to ask Harry to come and stay.'_

'That would be Dobby's doing,' murmured Harry as he remembered.

'Who's Dobby?' asked Neville.

'You'll see,' was Harry's cryptic response.

' _He'd almost be glad of a sight of his arch-enemy, Draco Malfoy –'_

'You're not serious,' said Ron, a horrified look on his face. It was mirrored by Fred, George, and Ginny, while Hermione looked a little shocked herself.

'I'm not proud of it,' said Harry hurriedly.

The description of Voldemort caused a few jitters among the students, and more than a few sympathetic glances came his way at the fact that he had still had nightmares about Voldemort.

' _He had been staring absent-mindedly into the hedge –_ and the hedge was staring back _.'_

'That's odd,' interrupted Flitwick in his chirpy voice. 'Hedges don't normally stare back.'

'Apparently, this one does, Filius,' said Dumbledore, staring down at the book.

'That's Dobby too,' said Harry quietly.

'Who?' asked Parvati.

'You'll see,' said Harry, again.

They all got a good laugh out of Dudley's terrified reaction to Harry's obviously fake spells at setting the hedge on fire, but most of them could hardly disguise their outrage at the punishment doled out by his Aunt Petunia.

'I have never seen a more atrocious woman in my life,' declared Sprout with a look of disgust. 'Which woman would want to hit their nephew with a frying pan?'

Snape pursed his lips, but did not offer a comment: he had, of course, suffered far worse at the hands of his father while he had been growing up. Getting hit by a frying pan seemed like a normal thing compared to what he had been through.

'I hope you're making a note of this, Amelia,' said McGonagall coolly.

'Of course, Minerva,' said Madam Bones. 'I'll add this to the arrest warrant for the Dursleys, after a formal review.'

McGonagall nodded.

' _Harry knew he shouldn't have risen to Dudley's bait, but Dudley had said the very thing Harry had been thinking himself…maybe he_ didn't _have any friends at Hogwarts…'_

Each of his friends turned to look at him, with expressions of mingled sympathy and guilt: the former for hearing about such thoughts from Harry, and the latter for being partly responsible for Harry to be feeling that way. Hermione, in particular, looked as though she was on the verge of tears.

'You'll always have friends here, Harry,' said Ginny quietly, and squeezed his hand.

'And don't you forget it,' said Neville firmly.

Harry gazed into each of his friends' faces, and could not help but grin at them in return. His twelve-year-old self had been naïve and…over-dramatic, for lack of a better word, to think that he would be without his friends at all. Granted, he had had his spats with Hermione and Ron over the last two years, but it had worked out in the end. And he knew – he just _knew_ – that they would always be with him.

It made him feel rather happy – something he hadn't felt in a really long time that year.

The chapter finished off rather quickly after that – there were only a few paragraphs left anyway.

' _Harry crossed to his bedroom on tiptoe, slipped inside, closed the door and turned to collapse on his bed. The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.'_

Dumbledore shut the book and looked up at the sea of students in front of him.

'Well? Who was on it?' asked Snape impatiently.

'I have no idea,' replied Dumbledore serenely. 'The chapter ended with those words.'

Harry almost laughed out loud at Dumbledore's response, and Snape's return glare at the old wizard. Dumbledore, of course, knew exactly who the uninvited guest was – Dobby the house-elf. Harry didn't recall mentioning it to Dumbledore earlier, but it was a moot point nonetheless.

'Oh, I can't wait for the next chapter,' said Ron almost gleefully.

'What about it?' asked Hermione.

'Malfoy's reaction,' said Ron, sniggering as he said so. 'Dobby was his, wasn't he?'

Harry cottoned on, and chuckled along with Ron, while Hermione stared at the two of them in fond exasperation.

'I believe you are next, Minerva?' asked Dumbledore, handing out the book to the Headmistress.

McGonagall nodded, flipped open the book to the right page, and began to read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: First off, I'd like to thank White Squirrel for graciously allowing me to continue his story of A Dramatic Reading in the form of a sequel. I couldn't have done it without his help, and his permission too. Another round of thanks to him for beta-reading this chapter as well!
> 
> This particular instalment will certainly cover the reading of Book 2 by the characters; as you can see, Harry feels a public reading of these books is in order, as opposed to a private one by the DMLE. Whether this includes Book 3 or not…well, we'll see.
> 
> Note from White_Squirrel: Thanks to Srikanth1808 for allowing me to cross-post this story to my profile here and add it to the series. He is doing all of the writing on this one. I'm just the beta reader. There is no definite update schedule for this story, but we will continue collaborating and working toward finishing it.


	2. McGonagall: Dobby's Warning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to express my appreciation for the response to this story – more than sixty favourites, and over a hundred followers! Thank you all so much!
> 
> Once again, thanks to White Squirrel for beta-reading this chapter, and offering his valuable inputs!
> 
> Disclaimer: Recognizable portions in this chapter have been taken from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. I neither own nor intend to make any profit from the use of Harry Potter and the associated characters of the series, in my story.

The Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was usually noisy when filled with students; their laughter and chatter, coupled with the chinks of cutlery against plates as they ate their food, echoed around the Hall. The only exception to this was when an announcement was being made by a Professor – and even then, despite the fact that pin-drop silence was maintained during such occasions, there was always a certain student, or a group of them, who did not bother paying attention.

This time, however, was unique: not one person's attention wavered as Professor McGonagall's voice filled the Hall with her narration of the second chapter.

' _Chapter 2,_ ' she read out, ' _Dobby's Warning._ '

Harry and Ron immediately looked over to the Slytherin table for a reaction from Draco Malfoy, and they were not disappointed.

Malfoy, who had started to lose a bit of interest at the incessant narration of Potter's life outside Hogwarts, immediately sat up in his seat at the mention of his old house-elf. What on earth was Dobby doing outside the Manor at night? And why was he delivering a warning to Potter, of all people?

Over at the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron were grinning like Cheshire cats, more so due to the prospect of seeing Malfoy's response to what Dobby was about to say.

' _Harry managed not to shout out, but it was a close thing. The little creature on the bed had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. Harry knew instantly that this was what had been watching him out of the garden hedge that morning.'_

'That sounds suspiciously like a house-elf,' said Sprout.

'Yes, I suppose it does, Pomona,' said Minerva, staring down at the description in the book. 'Large ears, green eyes…all we need is a dirty cloth or pillowcase for what it's wearing, and that would complete the picture.'

'Well, at least that solves the mystery of the staring hedge, Filius,' interjected Dumbledore. Flitwick, perched upon his usual tower of cushions, nodded with an expression that clearly meant _'I knew I was right.'_

' _Harry noticed that it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm-and leg-holes.'_

'Have you read this book before, Minerva?' asked Flitwick suspiciously.

'Definitely not,' retorted McGonagall.

' _He wanted to ask, "What are you?" but thought it would sound too rude, so instead he said, "Who are you?"_

" _Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," said the creature.'_

'So, that's Dobby,' said Parvati and Neville together; they looked at each other at the odd coordination, blushed, and looked away immediately.

'Yeah,' said Harry, oblivious to the interaction between the two.

Once again, Draco's head jerked up at the mention of his family's old house-elf. He had been shocked to find out that Dobby had been freed by his father, but had not thought to ask about the circumstances that resulted in it. All he knew was that Potter had been involved – again. He glared at Potter, who had been gleefully grinning for some unknown reason at the start of the chapter – silently wishing that the Dark Lord could hurry up and finish him off.

When Harry asked Dobby to sit down on his bed, the whole school – or at least the pure-bloods, let out gasps of amazement. Even the staff looked quite impressed. Most of them turned to stare at Harry, who ducked his head in embarrassment. Showing politeness to a house-elf was quite unheard of – there were very few families who did so. The general consensus regarding house-elves was simple enough – they were not meant to be seen or heard, as long as they did their work properly and without fuss.

Thus, it came as no surprise – to students from these families at least – that Dobby reacted the way he did upon hearing Harry's request. House-elves, in general, were quite sensitive when it came to their interactions with humans – like Dobby said, it was rare for witches and wizards to see them as equals, instead of servants; when treated like the former, however, it tended to send them over the edge.

Dobby's sudden act of punishing himself – by banging his head against the window in Harry's room – drew yelps of shock and sympathy from more than a few students; most of them were female, and were those who had not been exposed to any sort of interaction with house-elves before in their lives.

'" _Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir. …"'_

Those in the student body who were smart enough made the connection almost instantaneously: Malfoy's sudden yell at the beginning of the chapter, and Dobby's admission of almost speaking ill of his family when agreeing that there weren't many decent wizards around. The Malfoys were rich, pure-blood, and most certainly Dark, despite Lucius Malfoy's claims at the end of the last war, and Fudge's explicit confidence in him.

'"… _Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this –"_ Merlin's beard!' exclaimed McGonagall. 'That's barbaric – how do they allow for such punishments to happen?!'

'I think it is more of a question of how creative they can get without killing him outright,' said Snape, a hint of disgust creeping into his tone.

Once again, amazed and awe-struck stares were directed at Harry when they heard of his offer to help Dobby out of his servitude to his family that encouraged regular punishments. Few witches or wizards ever sought to offer such assistance to a house-elf: they were considered as a species below human beings, for whom such compassion was uncalled for. The reasons for this varied – it was either out of a holier-than-thou attitude, or simply out of disinterest towards their plight.

At the Gryffindor table, Hermione turned to Harry.

'You were all ready to help Dobby out then, but you have no interest in S.P.E.W.?' she asked, a tad angrily.

Harry raised his arms in surrender. 'I never said I had no interest, Hermione. I just think you're going about it the wrong way.'

Hermione harrumphed, and turned back to McGonagall, who was still reading. Harry raised his eyebrows in amazement at Ron, who shrugged.

'Y'know,' said Fred, leaning closer so that he could whisper without being overheard, 'Dobby's adoration reminds me of someone else.'

George looked confused for a moment, but then his eyes lit up. 'Indeed it does, brother mine,' he said, a grin slowly forming on his face.

'Not the best idea, you two,' said Lee Jordan, who was sitting next to Fred. The twins looked over to Lee pointing at Ginny, sporting a famous Weasley stare on her face.

Fred changed tack at top speed. 'I meant young Colin Creevey of course!'

'Oh – yeah, yeah of course,' echoed George, picking up almost immediately.

Ginny leaned in and patted both of them on the top of their heads. 'Good answer,' she said sweetly, and the twins let out identical, yet inaudible, sighs of relief.

' _But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he_ does _have to shut his ears in the over door later…_ Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts. _'_

All around the Hall, people looked shocked. Harry Potter not return to Hogwarts? A house-elf trying to stop him from returning? Was that even possible?

That last question was vocalized by Neville in a whisper to Harry. 'He can't do that, can he?'

'He almost succeeded,' said Harry grimly, remembering how that night had turned out.

Near the staff table, a voice of objection emerged from the group of Ministry of Magic employees: Percy Weasley, who had been shifted to work at the DMLE under Madam Bones' supervision after Fudge's arrest. 'House-elves can't do such things!' he said, in outraged tones.

'You'd be very surprised as to what house-elves can or cannot do, Mr Weasley,' said Vector.

'To be fair, Septima,' said Aurora Sinistra, the Astronomy professor, 'the elf hasn't suggested that he would stop Potter from going to Hogwarts. He's just warned him not to do so.'

Percy looked slightly abashed at his outburst.

'" _Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."'_

'Sounds like what Dumbledore tried doing with me last summer,' muttered Harry. Ron and Hermione winced, reminded of Harry's anger at not being offered any shred of information while being locked up in Privet Drive for weeks on end. Neville looked confused, but chose not to comment.

'You've always been in mortal danger in Hogwarts though, haven't you, Harry?' said Fred cheerfully.

'There was Quirrell in his first year,' said George, counting off on his fingers.

'Then the Chamber, with the Basilisk,' continued Fred.

'Then Sirius Black and the Dementors.'

'Then the Tournament last year.'

'Nothing in fifth year yet, though.'

'The Dementor attack might count,' mused Fred thoughtfully.

'Nah, that wasn't at Hogwarts.'

'Shut it, you two,' said Ginny.

'" _There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year."_ You know, Albus, if only we had known that he knew…'

'I doubt that would have made any difference, Minerva,' said Dumbledore. 'The writing on the wall on Halloween was quite clear.'

'Fair point,' conceded McGonagall, and she continued with reading about Dobby's attempts at dropping a hint to Harry, but which were ultimately fruitless.

'" _See what it's like here?" he said. "See why I've got to go back to Hogwarts? It's the only place I've got — well, I think I've got friends."_

" _Friends who don't even_ write _to Harry Potter?"_ Wait, does that mean he was the one interfering with Potter's post? How was he able to do that, I wonder?' wondered said McGonagall.

Down at the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy was pondering on the same thing. How had his own house-elf been able to stop letters reaching Harry Potter, of all people, even while doing his work at Malfoy Manor? Judging by the description in the narration, Potter had received a bunch of letters from Weasley and Granger, and even some from that great oaf, Hagrid. A Re-directional Charm, perhaps? But to what end?

'" _Harry Potter mustn't be angry…Dobby hoped…if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him…Harry Potter might not want to go back to school, sir…"_ '

 _So that's why_ , thought Malfoy. He sighed. If only Dobby had succeeded, Hogwarts would have had a nice, Potter-free year…

The Hall listened, enraptured, as Harry pursued Dobby down to the kitchen, only to end up covered from head to toe in his Aunt's pudding – the mound of whipped cream and sugared violets. It did come as a surprise, however, when the warning from the Ministry came for Harry.

'Well, that's not right,' observed Madam Bones, adjusting her monocle and frowning. 'Mafalda should have determined the magical signature as that of a house-elf, and not a wizard.'

'Unless Dobby was able to disguise his signature as that of Mr Potter's,' said Flitwick.

'Is that even possible?' asked Babbling.

'It is, indeed,' said Flitwick. 'And it seems the most likely explanation for why Mr Potter was served with a warning from the Ministry.'

'It's illegal, though!' said Percy, who seemed to have recovered from his earlier embarrassment. 'House-elves are forbidden from mimicking magical signatures of witches and wizards. That elf should be arrested immediately –'

'Mr Weasley, unless you have something fruitful to contribute to this conversation, please do keep your mouth shut,' said Snape smoothly.

Percy's mouth snapped shut immediately, his face turning red once more.

At the Gryffindor table, Neville was expressing his astonishment at the arrival of the warning. 'You got a warning for something you didn't even do?'

'Yeah,' said Harry with a shrug. 'Apparently, I'm the only wizard in the area for miles around, and the Ministry constantly monitor the place for magical activity, given the circumstances.'

'Means they didn't want anything to happen to the precious 'Boy-Who-Lived',' said Fred sarcastically.

'Except for this year,' said George.

The group chuckled at that, but the banter got Harry thinking. Up till Harry's dramatic return to Hogwarts last June with news about Voldemort's return, the Ministry had been quite friendly and nice towards him. They had even allowed him to get away with blowing up his Aunt Marge in the summer before third year – although that was pushed off as wanting to keep him safe from Sirius Black. But after Fudge had walked out of the hospital wing that night, the Ministry had done everything possible to keep him quiet and discredit his words.

Was it not possible that they had sent those Dementors to Little Whinging, to catch him out again for doing magic? Or to even have his soul sucked out? They certainly didn't care for him or his well-being right now – the scars on his right hand, courtesy Umbridge, were proof of that.

With a jolt, Harry realised that it was Umbridge had been the one to interpret Dumbledore's assertion during his trial last summer that someone in the Ministry had ordered the attack on him. And, with another horrible jolt, he recalled that no one had refuted that allegation. The trial had moved on to whether the Dementors were outside Ministry control or not.

He had no time to discuss this theory with Hermione or Ron, though; startled gasps from around the Hall brought him back to the reading. It seemed McGonagall had been describing Harry's living arrangements after the pudding fiasco.

'Bars on his window! No proper food, locked up for the entire day!' said McGonagall angrily, and Harry couldn't help the affection for his Headmistress and former Head of House that gushed up inside of him.

She wasn't the only one: most of the staff and the students – barring a select few in Slytherin – looked quite horrified at the way Harry was being treated. The first book had provided them a glimpse of his childhood and upbringing under the rather questionable care of the Dursleys, but this was really toeing crossing the line.

Even the Ministry guests were shocked. Madam Bones had a deep frown on her face, so much that her monocle was in danger of falling right off. She was, from what Harry could hear over the whispers and chatter of his fellow students, asking the Auror next to her to take notes on the Dursleys' actions. He caught words like 'abuse', 'mistreatment', and 'starvation': clearly, it was to add to the arrest warrant issued for his family.

His eyes roved over the staff members, coming to rest on the new Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts. Harry had half-expected Snape to be impassive over all this, while secretly cheering the Dursleys inside; so it was a quite a shock to see the former Potions Master look – perturbed?

Snape was indeed disturbed: the description of Potter being locked up and fed minimal amounts of food was eerily and horribly familiar. His own abuse at the hands of his parents father had been less severe, but it had affected him badly enough. How he had not noticed the same signs in Potter, he would never know.

Actually, he did know, but he had desperately tried to ignore it; instead, he had imagined Potter to be a replica of his father – arrogant, cocky, and strutting about without a care for rules or anybody else. Now, however, it was quite evident that Potter was more like his mother than anyone else.

And for the millionth time, Snape offered a silent apology to Lily Potter.

' _Supposing he was still alive in another four weeks, what would happen if he didn't turn up at Hogwarts? Would someone be sent to see why he hadn't come back? Would they be able to make the Dursleys let him go?'_

'I'm assuming you would have, Dumbledore?' asked Madam Bones, a shrewd expression on her face.

'Naturally,' said Dumbledore, accepting that the suspicion was warranted, especially after the events of Harry's first year. 'Unless there are strong reasons for doing so, no parent or guardian can restrict their child or ward from returning to Hogwarts.'

' _He opened his eyes. Moonlight was shining through the bars on the window. And someone_ was _goggling through the bars at him: a freckle-faced, red-haired, long-nosed someone._

_Ron Weasley was outside Harry's window.'_

'What?'

'This author loves keeping people in suspense, doesn't he?' asked Tonks.

'I think it's a female author, Nympha –'

' _Don't call me that!'_

'– dora,' finished Kingsley in his deep voice. 'The copyright page gives her name as Joanne Rowling. Fudge got me to investigate her.'

'Anything of note?'

'Not much, to be honest. She lives in Edinburgh. Divorced, mother of one, taking teaching courses and living off Muggle government benefits. No one important as far as I can tell.'

'Never mind that, Tonks, Kingsley,' interrupted Sprout. 'What on earth was Mr Weasley doing outside Mr Potter's window in the dead of the night?'

'I think the more appropriate question over here, Pomona, is _how_ ,' said Snape. 'It was an upstairs window, was it not?'

'For that, we'll need to read the next chapter,' said McGonagall, closing the book and handing it to Snape. 'You're next, Severus.'

Snape glowered at the Headmistress, but took the book anyway, opened it to chapter three, and began to read.


	3. Snape: The Burrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the inordinate delay – real life happened, and forced me to focus on other important things. I hope I can make it up to all of you with this chapter. Once again, thank you so much for your support!
> 
> A big thank you to White Squirrel for beta-reading this chapter - parts of it literally wouldn't have come out if not for him.
> 
> Disclaimer: Recognizable portions in this chapter have been taken from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. I neither own nor intend to make any profit from the use of Harry Potter and the associated characters of the series, in my story.

' _Chapter 3_ ,' began Snape, and even in the Great Hall, he was able to ensure that everyone was paying attention to him with the least effort on his part, ' _The Burrow._ '

'Home sweet home,' said Ron happily.

'" _Ron!" breathed Harry, creeping to the window and pushing it up so they could talk through the bars. "Ron, how did you – What the –?"_

 _Harry's mouth fell open as the full impact of what he was seeing hit him. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, which was parked_ inmid-air _."_ Mr Weasley,' called out Snape, looking up from the book and glaring at the Gryffindor table.

'Yes?' said Fred, George, and Ron together. The three red-heads grinned at the unplanned coordination, while Ginny groaned and dropped her head onto the table.

'Clearly, your little excursion to Hogwarts on the first day of term that year was not the first time you had driven the car,' he said in a menacing tone.

Ron gulped, but Fred and George weren't cowed.

'To be fair, I was driving it that time,' pointed out Fred.

'And, we weren't really seen by anyone,' added George.

'You were underage,' sneered Snape. 'Neither of you was legally allowed to drive.'

'I think we did a pretty good job of it, to be honest,' said Fred cheerily. 'Right, Forge?'

'Right you are, Gred.'

'That remains to be seen,' said Snape, glowering at the pair of them for a moment before returning to the book.

'I'd forgotten that we'd used the car to get you out of there,' said Ron. 'They won't do anything to us, would they?'

'Well, it was a long time ago…' said Harry.

'And we didn't enchant the car. That was Dad,' said Fred.

Right on cue, Snape's voice floated over just as they fell silent. ' _"Oh, this doesn't count," said Ron. "We're only borrowing this, it's Dad's,_ we _didn't enchant it."_ '

The rescue of Harry from the Dursleys' resulted in considerable cheers from the students; Harry and Ron were quite embarrassed by the end of it, and were ducking their heads to avoid the stares and admiring glances. Fred and George, however, were lapping it up, their heads held high and puffing their chests out importantly. It was only when Ginny remarked that they were doing quite a good impression of Percy that they became normal once more – or at least, as normal as one could expect from the twins.

Hermione was particularly impressed with the way they had manually picked the lock of Harry's room using an ordinary hairpin.

'I didn't even think of doing that,' she admitted.

'This, coming from the girl who panicked because there was no wood to start a fire,' sniggered Ginny.

'Oh, shut up.'

They quietened down, and listened as Snape went on with the narration of their ride from Surrey to Devon.

'" _Well," said Fred, "put it this way – house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their masters' permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"_ '

As Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all said, 'Yes', Snape read out Harry and Ron's assent from the book, causing chuckles from the group at the Gryffindor table.

'Hang on,' said Vector. Snape stopped reading to look up at the Arithmancy professor.

'What now, Septima?' he asked.

Vector glared at her fellow ex-Slytherin. 'Mr Weasley is right – house-elves can't use their powers without their master's permission.'

'Probably a first for that,' muttered Snape in an undertone. Vector ignored him.

'So how did this Dobby manage to get away from his master's house and warn Mr Potter about whatever was about to happen?'

The Great Hall was silent for a moment.

'Technically,' said Dumbledore, 'a house-elf is bound to obey the orders of its master. However, a more…adventurous member of the species may look to exploit any loopholes in any instructions that it may receive.'

'Adventurous, or deceitful, Albus?' asked Flitwick.

'That is neither here nor there, Filius,' said Dumbledore.

'So, it's possible that Dobby was exploiting the ambiguity in his master's directions in order to warn Mr Potter,' said Sinistra. 'Who is his master, anyway?'

"Perhaps we will find out later in the book," Dumbledore said with a smile.

'" _Draco Malfoy," Harry explained. "He hates me."_

" _Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"_ '

At the Slytherin table, Draco's friends and cronies were staring at him in disbelief.

'Wow, Potter got it right – wait, your house-elf went to warn Harry Potter not to come to Hogwarts?' asked Montague. 'What were you thinking?'

'I didn't tell him to do it,' said Draco defensively.

'Then how did he end up at Potter's place?' said Crabbe.

'Yeah! You heard that Professor – they're always supposed to follow orders!' said Goyle, nodding his head in agreement.

Draco looked at the pair of them and sighed. He wasn't in the mood to explain to his knuckle-headed friends as to what the professors had really meant. In any case, he was trying to make sure that he was quite invisible to the rest of the student body – Snape had just read out Potter's internal thoughts that Draco made _Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy_ , and everyone was staring at him with a wide variety of expressions. Most of them seemed to be finally appreciating the level of rivalry and mutual hatred that he and Potter had for one another.

Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys shared knowing grins with each other when the subject of Percy's odd behaviour cropped up. They looked up at Percy, who was determinedly staring at a point on the wall behind the staff table, trying to avoid everyone's eye, and unsuccessfully attempting to curtail his blush.

'Uh oh,' said Fred, suddenly.

'What?'

'I think we may have gotten Dad into more trouble.'

'How's that now?'

'" _Yeah, Dad's mad about everything to do with Muggles, our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it and puts it back together again. If he raided our house he'd have to put himself straight under arrest. It drives Mum mad."_ '

'Ah,' said George.

'Yeah,' sighed Fred.

Harry looked up in time to see Madam Bones instructing one of her companions to write something down. A sort of sinking feeling went through him – he only hoped that Mr Weasley wouldn't get into even more trouble, just because of his love for Muggle things.

Fred's master plan to avoid Mrs Weasley's wrath over flying the car caused Hermione and Ginny to snort with laughter. Even the other Gryffindors around them were sniggering at the 'genius' of it.

'Did you really expect Mum to fall for that?' asked Ginny with a giggle.

'It would have worked,' said Fred with a scowl, 'if she hadn't found us first.'

'Even I wouldn't have believed that,' chuckled Neville. George folded his arms across his chest and gave Neville a dirty look.

Their mood did cheer up, however, when they heard Harry comparing Mrs Weasley to a sabre-toothed tiger – after Hermione, Dean, Natalie McDonald and Colin Creevey (rather enthusiastically) took turns in describing what a sabre-toothed tiger was.

Snape chose not to imitate Mrs Weasley's shrill voice when she was shouting at all of them for being out so late and stealing the car, but the students got the gist of it. Most of them had been around when the Weasley matriarch had sent that Howler to Ron on the second day of term, which elicited a round of laughter from all of them.

'" _You could have_ died _, you could been_ seen _, you could have lost your father his_ job _–"_ '

'Nice to know that Mum's got her priorities sorted,' quipped Fred.

Most of the Muggle-born students, who had never set foot inside a wizarding house before, listened with keen interest as the Burrow's kitchen was described. Christine Maxwell was especially fascinated with the Weasley family clock.

'That sounds _amazing_!' she gushed. 'Where can you get such things?'

Ron's ears went pink, but he answered anyway. 'I remember Mum saying that Grandad Weasley had it made by a clock-maker in Diagon Alley. We just added hands to it as the family increased.'

'" _At that moment, there was a diversion in the form of a small, red-headed figure in a long nightdress, who appeared in the kitchen, gave a small squeal, and ran out again."_ '

'Oh dear,' said Ginny, burying her face in her hands, as her brothers sniggered. 'That was _mortifying_!' Her blush only increased as Ron said that she had been talking about Harry all summer; the saving grace was that she was joined in sporting a red face by Harry. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together for this – everyone knew of Ginny's initial fascination of Harry.

'I don't think that's the worst of it, Ginny,' said Hermione, patting the younger girl on the back sympathetically while trying not to laugh herself.

'Yeah? What could possibly be worse?'

'The elbow in the butter dish.'

Ginny groaned even louder at that, in part because Seamus also chose to say at that instant, 'The Valentine song too!'

The mention of Gilderoy Lockhart elicited a number of loud groans from the student body; even some of the staff rolled their eyes on hearing the name of their former colleague. Harry was particularly doubtful on whether Lockhart knew much about de-gnoming a garden, given his penchant for Memory Charms, and his incompetency in handling Cornish Pixies in a classroom.

The description of Weasleys de-gnoming a garden was fascinating, to say the least. Most Muggle-borns, and some half-bloods, were intrigued by the way a gnome looked like from Harry's perspective – _small and leathery-looking, with a large, knobbly, bald head exactly like a potato_. A few of them did give shrieks of surprise at the way the gnomes were tossed out of the garden, but, like Harry in the book felt, they learned not to feel too sorry for the little blighters, especially if they preferred biting people to escape.

The narration continued on to Mr Weasley's return, and his description of his busy night.

'That Mundungus Fletcher really needs to get a proper sense of things,' said McGonagall, her lips pursed in disapproval, as Mr Weasley told them all how Mundungus had tried hexing him when his back was turned. She hadn't forgiven the thieving man for abandoning his post of watching Harry over the last summer, and leaving him at the mercy of the Dementors.

'Now, Minerva,' said Dumbledore gently. 'He is a particularly useful person to have around.'

'Yes, but I still don't like him, Albus,' said McGonagall.

Snape, who had paused for Dumbledore and McGonagall's conversation, continued reading.

'That's horrible!' exclaimed Hermione, as Mr Weasley described the desire for wizards to engage in 'Muggle-baiting'.

'C'mon, Hermione,' said Ginny. 'You remember what happened at the World Cup two summers ago.'

Hermione nodded grimly. The image of the Death Eaters torturing and making fun of the Roberts family at the World Cup campsite was not something she wished to revisit any time soon.

'" _Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring at them in the face…"_ '

'That sounds about right,' agreed Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies professor.

'It's remarkable how ignorant and narrow-minded Muggles can be,' said Vector.

'We are equally guilty of being the same way towards them, Septima,' reminded Dumbledore kindly.

'Of course, Albus, but if it's staring at you in the face…'

Conversations began to spring up at three of the four House tables, with many of the Muggle-borns disagreeing with Mr Weasley and Professor Vector.

'If they actually _saw_ the key shrink, they wouldn't ignore it,' said Justin Finch-Fletchley to his friends. 'They wouldn't admit it since either they'd think they were going crazy or they'd worry that _other_ people would think they were crazy. And it's hard for Muggles to figure anything out when wizards always cover it up.'

'Did your parents ever figure it out?' asked Susan Bones.

'My parents and I knew there was something different about me, but we couldn't really understand what it was. It was only after McGonagall came and explained everything that it all made sense.'

Michael Corner, however, had a rather different story to tell. 'My Dad's a Muggle-born wizard, so my parents knew about it, but they were scared. They didn't tell me what it was until I got my Hogwarts letter. They had hoped that I didn't have it, but when my letter came, their worst fears had come true.'

'What were they scared of, though?' asked Terry Boot, his friend since their first year at Hogwarts.

Michael sighed. 'Dad was attacked by Death Eaters during the last war. His mum was killed, and Grandpa wound up in a wheelchair. Plus, he graduated at a time when it was hard for Muggle-borns just to get by in the magical world, so he didn't want anything to do with magic after that.'

Snape cleared his throat impatiently, and the chatter died down at once.

'"… _but the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe –"_

" _LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?"_ '

'Merlin, your Mam's one scary woman, Ron,' said Seamus, as they listened to her argument with Mr Weasley about the loophole in the law regarding experimenting on Muggle items and artefacts.

'You don't say…' said Ron.

Up at the Ministry table, Madam Bones was whispering further instructions to one of her colleagues. Harry had the feeling that she was looking at ensuring that the loophole in the law that Mr Weasley had described was plugged up immediately.

'You know, technically, your Dad hasn't done anything wrong, Ron,' said Parvati.

'Yeah? How do you figure?'

'Well, it's not like he misused any of these items, did he? I'm sure the car was particularly useful in getting all of you around at once. And I'm quite sure he didn't use any of the stuff in his shed for nefarious reasons.'

Ron stared at her.

'That's an amazing argument, Parvati,' said Neville earnestly, and she blushed at the praise.

'" _It was like walking into a furnace: nearly everything in Ron's room seemed to be a violent shade or orange: the bed-spread, the walls, even the ceiling."_ '

Many people were confused at the description of the bright orange in the room, but it became quite clear from Harry's next observation, and Ron's response. The mention of the Chudley Cannons immediately resulted in an impromptu discussion about people's favourite teams and their position in the Quidditch League. Unsurprisingly, the Cannons had very few supporters – most of the school were rooting for the Tutshill Tornadoes. Ron loudly theorised that half of them were just jumping on the bandwagon due to their recent winning streak, earning him dirty looks from the Tornadoes' fans.

'How on earth did you start supporting a team like Chudley Cannons, Ron?' asked Seamus incredulously.

Fred and George sniggered, but didn't comment. Harry instantly knew it was a rather embarrassing story, and secretly resolved to ask Ron about it later.

'" _It's a bit small," said Ron quickly. "Not like that room you had with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic, he's always banging on the pipes and groaning…"_

_But Harry, grinning widely, said, "This is the best house I've ever been in."_

_Ron's ears went pink._ '

'Cheers, mate,' said Ron with a grin, and no trace of the blush he'd had in the book.

'Trust me, it is,' said Harry. 'Better than Grimmauld Place, anyway.'

Up at the staff table, Snape shut the book close with a snap. 'That is the end of the chapter,' he said. 'I believe Horace was next to read?'

Harry watched as the new Potions professor – an enormous bald man with a huge, silver, walrus-like moustache – looked around at Snape.

'Me?' he said. 'Would it not be appropriate for Filius –'

'You are the most senior Head of House after the Heads of the school, Horace,' said Dumbledore kindly. 'Please, do continue with the reading.'

Slughorn gulped noticeably – clearly he didn't seem too keen in being in the spotlight for so long – but he accepted the book held out by Snape, nevertheless, opened it, and began to read.


	4. Slughorn: At Flourish and Blotts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is – the long-awaited fourth chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> As always, massive thanks to White Squirrel for beta-reading this chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: Recognisable portions in this chapter have been taken from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling. I neither own nor intend to make any profit from the use of Harry Potter and the associated characters of the series, in my story.

'Ch-chapter 4,' began Slughorn, and for some reason, he stuttered as he spoke. Harry looked confusedly at Ron and Hermione; he had told them about his visit to the village of Budleigh Babberton along with Dumbledore, when he had first met Slughorn. The Potions Master had not seemed this averse to attention – on the contrary, he took a lot of pleasure in talking about all the famous people he knew or he had taught.

'I wonder why he's so nervous,' mused Hermione as they looked up at him. Slughorn had paused to take a sip of water, and even from their place at the Gryffindor table, they could see his hands shaking.

' _Life at The Burrow was as different as possible from life in Privet Drive._ ' read out Slughorn.

'True that,' agreed Harry with a nod, but it was with a wide grin on his face. Apart from Hogwarts, there was no other place he would rather stay at.

' _The Dursleys liked everything neat and ordered; the Weasleys' house burst with the strange and unexpected._ '

The mention of the Dursleys' preference about their way of living stirred something in Harry's memory: Tonks' remark on the night the Advance Guard had landed up in Privet Drive to get him out last summer.

' _Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?'_

Harry looked up just in time to meet Tonks' eyes. Clearly, she had been thinking of the same remark as he had, for she smirked and winked at him.

Slughorn's voice got a little steadier as he continued with the narration, which covered a few examples of how utterly different The Burrow was from Privet Drive. A few of the girls in Hogwarts sighed – quite dramatically, in Harry's opinion – when Slughorn read out Harry's confusion at how everybody at The Burrow seemed to like him. He shook his head, and ducked it with embarrassment.

'"Ingenious _, really, how many ways Muggles have found of getting along without magic."_ '

'Its things like these that's a problem in the wizarding world,' said Hermione, her lips pursed in disapproval.

'What's that now?' asked Ron, diverting his attention from the narration, which was now describing Harry and the Weasleys hearing from Hogwarts.

'The view that Muggles are, well, backward. And are at a disadvantage,' said Hermione. 'Muggles have progressed a lot in a really short space of time, while the magical society doesn't seem to have moved forward at all.'

'I agree,' came a small voice from a few seats down the row. Heads turned to focus on the small figure of a second-year girl: Natalie McDonald. She seemed to shrink even further at the attention she had garnered, but managed to continue anyway. 'Muggles aren't backward, they've just…found different solutions to their problems.'

'Exactly!' said Hermione enthusiastically. 'It's not exactly their fault that they can't fix everything with a tap of their wand. Besides, talking over a telephone is so much quicker than owl post.'

'My dad always says that it's only a matter of time before every person has a mobile phone,' said Natalie. 'The wizarding world could definitely use something like that.'

Hermione was on the verge of exclaiming once again, no doubt in her happiness at having found a fellow Muggle-born who shared her views about Muggle society, but was interrupted by Harry.

'Maybe you can discuss this later today, Hermione,' he said. 'We'd best pay attention to the chapter.'

Slightly pink in the face, she snapped her mouth shut, nodded, and focused on Slughorn, who was currently reading out the booklist mentioned in the letters from Hogwarts.

'" _You've been told to get all Lockhart's books too!" he said. "The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan – bet it's a witch."_ '

'Even a crazy fan would have been a better teacher than Lockhart,' said George.

'I won't be so sure, George. She'd probably be going on about how she loves Lockhart, rather than the books themselves,' said Lee.

'Wouldn't have made much of a difference, to be honest,' said Katie Bell. 'Those books were rubbish, anyway.'

'I wonder why Dumbledore hired him in the first place,' whispered Angelina, as Slughorn continued with the infamous 'elbow in the butter dish' incident. Fortunately for Ginny, no one at the Gryffindor table paid much attention to his words – just like it had happened three years ago – as Ron responded to Angelina.

'Hagrid said he was the only one who applied for the job,' he said. 'Jinxed position, see? No one's lasted for more than a year.'

'That sounds about right,' nodded Fred, after everyone had taken a moment to contemplate this. 'We'd had different Defence teachers for our first two years as well.'

'Oh yes,' said Alicia, as Lee hummed in agreement.

'I suppose Lockhart thought he would be the one to break the curse,' said Lavender, and the rest of them sniggered at the thought.

' _Five minutes later they were marching up the hill, broomsticks over their shoulders. They had asked Percy if he wanted to join them, but he had said he was busy…_

'" _Wish I knew what he was up to," said Fred, frowning. "He's not himself. His exam results came the day before you did; twelve O.W.L.s and he hardly gloated at all."_ '

'The git,' said Fred in an undertone, as they stared up at the third Weasley brother. Percy was now looking around the Hall with a smug expression on his face: clearly, getting twelve O. was something he still prided himself on.

'What was he doing, anyway?' asked Dean interestedly.

'Writing to his girlfriend,' smirked George. 'I know,' he added, as Dean's eyes widened in surprise. 'We were shocked too.'

As Slughorn continued with the narration, it struck Harry just then that none of the teachers or Ministry staff had voiced their opinion or comments to the chapter so far. He supposed that there was nothing important or necessary for them to say – most of it seemed to be about his stay at the Burrow that summer.

'" _He's never travelled by Floo power," said Ron suddenly. "Sorry, Harry, I forgot."_ '

'Hang on,' said Harry suddenly. 'This was my first travel by Floo powder…'

'Yeah…' said Ron. 'So?'

'That would mean…Knockturn Alley.'

'Okay…'

'Borgin and Burkes…'

'I don't see your point.'

'And Flourish and Blotts…'

'Harry, are you sure you're okay?'

Harry ignored him. Hermione, however, seemed to have cottoned on to what Harry was saying.

'This is the key chapter, Harry, isn't it?' she said in an excited whisper.

'Yes,' he replied. 'You should take your notes, just like last time. Whatever logic you used to unearth the conspiracy for the first book, use that this time as well – we could use it to help the Ministry.'

Hermione hadn't waited for him to finish – as soon as he'd asked her to take notes, she had, without further comment, pulled out a piece of parchment and a finely tipped quill.

' _He was quite alone, but where he was, he had no idea. All he could tell was that he was standing in the stone fireplace of what looked like a large, dimly lit wizard's shop – but nothing in here was ever likely to be on a Hogwarts school list._ '

Up till that point, the occupants of the Great Hall had been listening rather half-heartedly to Slughorn's admittedly monotonous narration of the chapter. A few students – who did not seem to be interested in hearing about Harry's life – had begun to either read other books, or play silent games with their friends at the tables.

But as Slughorn began describing the items in the shop, the students began paying attention just a bit more. How on earth had Harry Potter ended up in such a shady shop? Most of them seemed to agree with the fact that he needed to get out of the shop as soon as possible.

As fate would have it – and as it usually does for Harry – Draco Malfoy entered the shop; as though on cue, all eyes turned to look at Draco Malfoy seated at the Slytherin table – just for a moment, however, for Slughorn had not paused his narration of the events.

' _The man who followed could only be his father. He had the same pale, pointed face and identical cold grey eyes."'_

'Lucius Malfoy,' breathed Ron. 'That's what this is all about.'

The Ministry entourage was just as intrigued at the mention of Malfoy Senior. Some of the Aurors were already taking down notes, although no one seemed to understand why. Hermione, for her part, was waiting patiently, her eyes fixed on the piece of parchment below her, quill poised over it, and her ears listening intently to Slughorn.

The fact that Malfoy had complained about Harry at least a dozen times that summer drew more than a few titters and snickers from the crowd. Some of the more immature ones – Zacharias Smith included – proceeded to theorise on Malfoy's hidden feelings for Harry, which caused even more laughs and giggles from the crowd around him.

But it was just then that the listening crowd got their first – insight, if one could call it – of why Harry had considered this chapter to be important.

'" _I'm not buying today, Mr. Borgin, but selling," said Mr. Malfoy._

'" _Selling?" The smile faded slightly from Mr. Borgin's face._

'" _You have heard, of course, that the Ministry is conducting more raids," said Mr. Malfoy, taking a roll of parchment from his inside pocket and unravelling it for Mr. Borgin to read. "I have a few – ah – items at home that might embarrass me, if the Ministry were to call…"'_

Harry watched as the Auror contingent furiously took down notes on their parchment as Slughorn read out the conversation between Lucius Malfoy and Mr Borgin. A few of them looked up in surprise when 'poisons' was mentioned; those that did had been a part of the raiding party three years ago, but they had not located any poisons in Malfoy Manor in either of the raids they'd conducted.

Most of the school looked just as pleased as Harry when Lucius Malfoy reprimanded his son for being beaten by Hermione in every exam in their first year. Of course, this was not news to the fifth years and above – Hermione topping the class was considered the norm – but hearing about Draco Malfoy being put down was always good fun.

'" _It's the same all over," said Mr. Borgin, in his oily voice. "Wizard blood is counting for less everywhere –"_

'" _Not with me," said Mr. Malfoy._

'And not with You-Know-Who, either,' commented McGonagall at last. Harry wondered how the entire staff had not had any comments regarding the chapter till then.

'That year had a lot of focus on blood purity, if my memory serves me right,' said Flitwick.

'Yes, it did,' said Vector. 'Weren't all of the attacks on Muggle-born students?'

'Except for the last one, of course,' corrected Sinistra.

'Ah, yes,' nodded Vector, 'how could I forget?'

Slughorn, who had paused for the teacher's conversation, continued his narration.

'" _In that case, perhaps we can return to my list," said Mr. Malfoy shortly. "I am in something of a hurry, Borgin, I have important business elsewhere today –"'_

Just as Slughorn finished reading what Lucius Malfoy had said, Hermione immediately began to scribble on her parchment. Harry leaned over to read what she'd written.

_Lucius Malfoy – went to sell items at Borgin and Burkes, and had_ _important business elsewhere_ _. Was it at Quality Quidditch Supplies? Or at Flourish and Blotts?_

Most of the student populace found the description of Knockturn Alley quite fascinating – even if it was too brief, and from the perspective of a twelve-year old boy. The Weasley twins, in particular, along with Lee Jordan, were looking at Harry with a mixture of envy and awe: clearly, they, too, wanted to visit Knockturn Alley themselves.

There was nothing spectacular to note or comment about the ensuing paragraphs that described his rescue by Hagrid, his reunion with the Weasleys, and their visit to Gringotts and the Diagon Alley shops. A few titters sounded from the students at Mr Weasley's fascination with Muggle money.

'"' _Course, he's very ambitious, Percy, he's got it all planned out… He wants to be Minister of Magic…" Ron told Harry and Hermione in an undertone as they left Percy to it.'_

'That went downhill the moment he sided with Fudge,' said Ginny angrily.

All four Weasleys present at the Gryffindor table looked up to glare at their older brother, who was trying – and failing – not to be too conspicuous as his name was read out. Percy spotted his siblings' glower, and he ducked his head in embarrassment. He'd realised the error of his ways ever since Fudge and Umbridge had been arrested, but he still felt a bit proud about apologising to his family. Now, going by the way his brothers and sister were looking at him, he doubted if they would even accept his apology.

Slughorn continued with the narration of their visit to Flourish and Blotts, where they found out they could meet Gilderoy Lockhart himself. Chuckles sounded around the Great Hall when the narration observed: _'The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age.'_

Snide grins, mixed with sympathetic smiles, were sent Harry's way as they proceeded to hear about Lockhart's reaction to his presence, and _his_ reaction to Lockhart pulling him up to the front of the overcrowded bookstore. The most hilarious moment came, however, when Slughorn read out Lockhart's announcement of his appointment as the Defence Professor at Hogwarts: there was a collective theatrical groan of despair from every student, despite the fact that Lockhart was currently in St. Mungo's Hospital for permanent memory loss. Some of the teachers who had been on the staff at that time either smiled or chuckled at the student's reaction, while the others – including the Ministry contingent, just looked around in confusion.

'"Famous _Harry Potter," said Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."'_

'He seems to be extremely jealous of Harry,' remarked Michael Corner, while the rest of the Ravenclaws – and the Hufflepuffs who'd heard him – nodded in agreement.

Hermione, meanwhile, was taking down notes once again.

 _Ginny Weasley's cauldron – Lockhart's books from Harry._ She followed it up with _'and Ron'_ , when Slughorn read out Ron's reaction to Malfoy's nasty comment about his parents. Fred and George, who hadn't heard the remark in the shop all those years ago, glared furiously at Malfoy across the Hall.

'" _Well, well, well – Arthur Weasley."'_

Harry and his friends did not need Slughorn to tell them who it was, despite it being the very next line in the chapter.

'" _Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"_

' _Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny._

'" _We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said._

'" _Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley…and I thought your family could sink no lower –"'_

Hermione had scribbled her next line so fast, her hand had been a mere blur as it flew across the parchment. While Harry knew what she had spotted, Ron, Fred, George, and everyone else in the immediate area tried to get a glimpse of the bushy-haired witch's notes.

_Lucius Malfoy took out Ginny's old book from her cauldron. Why the old one, specifically? Was it only to prove a point?_

A short gasp went up from the crowd as Slughorn read out Mr Weasley launching himself onto Lucius Malfoy in anger. Those who had hoped for a big fight were left slightly disappointed, however, when Hagrid appeared on the scene and pulled them apart.

Hermione scribbled a fresh set of notes once more as Slughorn narrated Lucius Malfoy returning Ginny's book to her. Once again, people leaned over to see what she'd written.

_Lucius Malfoy returned the dirty old book. Surprising that he was still holding it after the fight. Also surprising that he chose to return it, rather than cast it off and cause more misery for the Weasleys. Why did he do so?_

The chapter wrapped up fairly quickly after that. Harry and the others noticed Draco Malfoy bristling as Hagrid spoke about his family: _'"Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that – no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter – bad blood, that's what it is…"'_ , but they weren't the only ones who agreed with Hagrid. A fair few students, and even a few Aurors, were nodding at the statement.

' _Harry took off his glasses and put them safely in his pocket before helping himself to Floo powder. It definitely wasn't his favourite way to travel.'_

'Still isn't, mind you,' said Harry, as Slughorn shut the book. The rotund Potions Professor looked oddly relieved to have finished reading that chapter.

As the book was passed along to tiny Professor Flitwick, Hermione turned to Harry. 'Should we go to Madam Bones after today's reading?' she asked him.

Harry frowned. 'I suppose we could – but it would be a far stretch to point any fingers right now, Hermione.'

Hermione nodded slowly, thinking, as she alternated her gaze between Harry and her notes. The ink from her last entry was still drying.

Harry looked up at Madam Bones, who was deep in discussion with Kingsley and another senior Auror from her team. He knew this chapter was crucial in their effort to pin some charges on Lucius Malfoy for the whole Chamber of Secrets debacle.

The question was – would the evidence be enough?


	5. Flitwick: The Whomping Willow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Apologies for the delay – real life happened. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> As always, massive thanks to White Squirrel for beta-reading this chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: Recognisable portions in this chapter have been taken from the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling. I neither own nor intend to make any profit from the use of Harry Potter and the associated characters of the series, in my story.

'Uh oh,' muttered Harry as soon as Professor Flitwick read the chapter name out loud.

'What?'

'Didn't you hear? It's the Whomping Willow he's going to read about.'

Ron turned a nasty shade of green at those words – he was still queasy over the whole issue.

' _He was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but his month at the Burrow had been the happiest of his life.'_

'At that time, yeah,' said Harry in agreement. As much as he loved Hogwarts, that month at the Burrow had been the only truly carefree time in his life up to that point.

' _It took a long while to get started next morning. They were up at cock-crow, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do.'_

'You know, I think I've forgotten this,' said Harry, turning to the Weasleys seated next to him. 'How far is King's Cross from your place?'

'Erm…' said Ron.

'Well…' began Fred.

'Hmm…' continued George.

'Around three hours,' said Ginny.

The three Weasley brothers turned towards their sister with astonished expressions.

'And you know this – how?' queried Fred.

'Because apparently, Ginny is the only one of you who pays attention,' Hermione cut in.

'Well, it was really because…' Ginny said, and to their increasing surprise, she blushed. 'Well, it was because I would keep track of how much time I had left to spend with my brothers before they went off to Hogwarts each year. At least, before I came here myself, of course.'

She said all of this in a rush – and a good thing, too, for the Weasley boys suddenly seemed uncomfortable and embarrassed. For his part, Harry felt relieved that the blush wasn't because she counted down the hours before she could see him.

'Why did you ask, Harry?' asked Parvati.

'Just wondering why we needed to get up so early that year,' he replied. 'Suppose it was good, in a way.'

Harry's apprehension for Mr Weasley's brush with the law only grew as Flitwick continued the narration of the modifications made to the small Ford Anglia. He knew there had been an inquiry, but that was only about the flying part, as far as he knew. Would the Invisibility Booster or the Extension Charms be enough for Madam Bones to take a second look? Even the conversation between Mr and Mrs Weasley regarding flying the car to King's Cross Station, which elicited chuckles and sniggers across the Hall, failed to generate more than a forced grimace from him. He noticed the Auror next to Madam Bones taking notes fervently as Flitwick progressed in his reading. He wondered if Parvati's argument – that the car had not been used by Mr Weasley for nefarious reasons – would still hold good, especially if they were to read the rest of that chapter.

The nearby sound of quill scratching against parchment caused Harry to look around: Hermione was writing something down very fast. He leaned over to read her latest set of notes.

_Ginny shrieked that she'd left her diary – was it the same diary? Had she already started writing in it?_

Harry looked up to meet Hermione's significant gaze, then glanced at Ginny; the mention of the diary had made her clench her jaw, and her expression harden slightly. He decided not to bring it up just then, but re-focused his attention on Flitwick, who was reading out the entrance of the Weasleys onto platform nine and three-quarters.

' _He felt perfectly confident; this wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as using Floo powder.'_

'I'm starting to think my thoughts are jinxed,' murmured Harry, but the students around him heard him quite clearly.

'Why's that?' asked Lavender.

' _CRASH.'_ Flitwick had boomed out that word so loud half the students jumped out of their seats, while the others flinched visibly.

'Because of that,' finished Harry with a grimace.

'You couldn't get through the barrier?' asked Natalie incredulously, her eyes wide. 'How is that even possible?'

'Something tells me it was Dobby, wasn't it, Harry?' said Neville.

'Right in one, Nev.'

'Did you ask the Ministry wizards for help, then?' asked Lavender.

'The – wait, _what?_ '

Everyone except Parvati swivelled around to look at Lavender. Even Hermione seemed startled to hear this. 'There are Ministry wizards present at King's Cross?' she asked.

Lavender gaped at her, and everyone else.

'Of course there are, didn't you know? There are usually a number of plain-clothed wizards to alter any Muggle memories, in case they've seen us entering or exiting the platform.'

'But then…' Harry trailed off, even as Hermione began asking more questions about these employees to Lavender and Parvati. If the Ministry employees had been there, why hadn't they helped him and Ron when they couldn't get into the barrier? Or had Dobby taken them out of the picture too?

He met Ron's eyes, and he knew they were both thinking of the same thing.

'Surely not…' said Ron uncertainly. 'Dobby wouldn't do that, would he?'

'Well, there was the Bludger that almost killed me,' began Harry.

'Yeah, but…' Ron did not continue, but looked a little uncomfortable.

'" _Harry!" said Ron, his eyes gleaming. "The car!"'_

'Oh dear,' said Hermione, shaking her sadly.

'" _We can fly the car to Hogwarts!"'_

'And that was where things started to go downhill,' Ron pointed out.

'At least now we know that it was your idea in the first place,' said Harry, but he was grinning.

Fred and George were beaming at Ron.

'Our ickle Ronniekins,' said Fred, placing his hand on his heart in an exaggerated manner.

'Deciding to fly the car to Hogwarts,' said George, wiping his eyes dramatically.

'Seems like we've been a good influence after all, Gred.'

'It's been worth our efforts, Forge.'

'We're so proud!' they chorused.

The rest of them giggled and sniggered, but Hermione shot them a chiding look – which, of course, they paid no heed to.

'… _but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars.'_

'That is a creepy image,' said Colin Creevey, and there was nods and murmurs of agreement.

' _Then there was a popping noise and the car, Harry, and Ron reappeared.'_

'So that's why they were seen,' said Terry Boot. 'I remember reading the Daily Prophet the next morning – it had something about a flying car being spotted by Muggles, which didn't make sense if they had the Invisibility Booster, but now that we know it's faulty –'

'Do us a favour, Terry,' said Anthony Goldstein, 'and shut it.'

The description of their journey was, as it had been put quite cleverly, 'quite uneventful'. It took all of five minutes to finish, but after a day's continuous reading of chapters, the occupants of the Great Hall – Ministry employees included – were starting to feel the strain. Indeed, not much attention was paid to Flitwick's narration of their final approach towards Hogwarts Castle.

The listeners perked up, finally, at Flitwick's next lines.

' _There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.'_

'Oh, crap,' said Colin, to the astonishment of those around him.

Flitwick was an excellent narrator, mused Harry; he paused in all the right places, and gave the most appropriate dramatic effects for the car's near misses with the castle. The listeners gasped appropriately too, and broke out into laughter at Ron's attempts to stop the car with his wand.

'" _MIND THAT TREE!"'_

Several people shrieked when Flitwick read out the _'CRUNCH'_ , widened their eyes at the state of Ron's broken wand, and jumped as the narration continued with a description of the tree – which everyone now realised was the Whomping Willow – attacking the car with everything it had. Most of the Slytherins, however, were guffawing with laughter.

'Slimy gits,' muttered Ron darkly, glaring at Montague and Belby, who were clutching their sides.

'Harry, you didn't say you could do wandless magic,' whispered Hermione.

'What?'

'You made the car reverse without using your wand,' she said. 'How did you do that?'

Harry stared at her. 'I don't think I did. I just told it to reverse, and it did on its own. The thing had a mind of its own – I mean, it threw us out, didn't it?' He felt a little disconcerted under her intent gaze. 'C'mon Hermione, it isn't a big deal.'

'But it is, Harry,' she said urgently. 'It takes a lot of concentration and skill to achieve wandless magic – only the most powerful wizards and witches can do it.'

Harry gaped at her; he was sure his mouth had fallen open in astonishment. _Only the most powerful can do wandless magic_ – was that true? But then, all those times…

He turned to Ron, but his red-headed best friend was focusing on the story, where Flitwick had just started with a description of the Great Hall on their first day back that year. Harry tuned him out, instead focusing on what Hermione had said…

Was he capable of doing wandless magic? If he was, he should have repeated the feat in later years, right? There had to have been some incidents where he would have used wandless magic – there was no way he had consciously done this before. He racked his brains, trying to remember…

And then, it came to him…the summer before his third year, when he ran away from Privet Drive – he'd made the cupboard under the stairs burst open on its own as he reached it – he hadn't used his wand for that, had he? In fact, forget his wand not being with him, he hadn't even uttered the Unlocking Charm that time.

_Wandless, and non-verbal…?_

And then, another memory rose in his mind – from the previous summer, a time when he'd lost his wand, in the darkness of an alley in Little Whinging; he'd shouted _'Lumos!'_ without thinking, and his wand tip had lit, inches from his hand…

_Wandless magic…_

He looked around at Hermione once more; she was staring back at him as though she knew what he had been thinking about. Her eyes, however, betrayed her excitement over the matter.

'Oh, Harry,' she whispered.

Ron groaned when Flitwick read out their observation that Snape wasn't at the table.

'" _Maybe he's ill!" said Ron hopefully._

'" _Maybe he's_ left _," said Harry, "because he missed out on the Defence Against the Dark Arts job_ again _!"_

'" _Or he might have been_ sacked _!" Ron said enthusiastically.'_

'He's right behind you, isn't he?' said Neville.

There was an outbreak of general laughter as the narration introduced Snape, in his full vindictive glory, in his rejoinder to Harry and Ron's explanations for his absence from the staff table. Harry only half-heartedly listened to Flitwick as the Charms professor squeaked on about Snape taking them to his dungeon office and berating them for their antics.

Harry ignored them; his mind was a world away, a place where he was contemplating the possibility of actually being able to do wandless magic.

_Could I do it?_

Apart from Hermione, no one was paying him much attention – everyone in the Hall was focusing on Snape taunting the two boys, and then announcing his decision to _'fetch the people who do have that happy power.'_ He looked down at the table: a single, blank piece of parchment lay before him – probably a spare from Hermione's stack which she was using for note-taking. His wand was in his bag, where he'd stowed it in the morning before coming to the Great Hall.

He alternated glances between Hermione and the parchment before him, thinking…

_No harm in trying._

He gave himself a mental shrug, gazed intently at the parchment, and, very quietly, murmured, _'Wingardium Leviosa.'_

The parchment did not move.

The immediate feeling was one of disappointment – he had half-expected it to move. He looked up at Hermione, who shook her head.

_Okay, try again._

'" _Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl?" asked Professor McGonagall._ You know, Minerva,' said Flitwick, looking up over the top of the book at the Headmistress, 'even an owl would have taken ages to reach us. I doubt Mr Potter and Mr Weasley would have waited that long.'

'No, they would not have,' agreed McGonagall, 'but it would have given enough time for Arthur and Molly to return to the Muggle world, and help the two students.'

'But if the barrier was blocked…' said Sprout.

'Surely it wouldn't have been sealed off in both directions,' said Vector. She looked at her colleagues. 'Would it?'

'We may never know,' said Dumbledore gently. 'Whoever blocked the barrier would probably have made sure that no one could come back and help Mr Potter and Mr Weasley – at least, that is my presumption.'

'But that would require an immense level of concentration, Albus,' said Babbling. 'Not to mention skill, and power.'

'Indeed,' said Dumbledore. 'However, I am quite sure – and I believe my memory serves me correctly – that it was not a wizard or a witch who blocked the barrier.'

'Then who – _oh_ ,' breathed Vector, her eyes wide, but she was the only one who understood. The other teachers were clueless, and neither Vector nor Dumbledore was willing to share; the latter only stating that it would be best to allow the story to proceed in its natural course. After a round of grumbling and glares directed towards the former Headmaster by the teachers, Flitwick continued.

Harry, meanwhile, had had no luck with the wandless Levitation Charm on the piece of parchment in front of him. He wondered if it was because it was a parchment, rather than the almost weightless feather Flitwick had had them first practice the charm upon in their first year; or if it was because he just didn't have the ability to do it.

_But I have done it before_ , he thought to himself, as he stared at the parchment once more, his fists clenched tight under the table. _I am perfectly capable of doing it_.

'Harry?'

' _What_ , Hermione?' he almost snapped at her; she flinched slightly, but did not call him out on it.

'Maybe…maybe you should wave your hand over the parchment,' she suggested tentatively.

Harry regretted his outburst – she was only trying to help. Ignoring the frustration and hopelessness that was building up inside him, he tried to offer her a smile – probably more as a token of apology, and acceptance of her advice. She gave him a weak grin of her own, and he nodded.

'Yeah, okay.'

Harry unclenched his right fist and brought it up over the parchment, his palm facing downwards. For a moment, he felt a little foolish – what a right sight he must be: as though he was blessing the parchment. He pushed all of those thoughts to the back of his mind, however, and focused.

' _Wingardium Leviosa_ ,' he whispered, and twirled his wrist slightly.

And the parchment lifted off the desk, hovering just below his outstretched palm, as though pulled to it by some invisible force, and yet repelled from it by a magnet.

'Oh my…' gasped Hermione, her eyes wide, her hands covering her open mouth. Harry was dimly impressed how she was able to contain her excitement over the entire thing.

'Here, what's Potter doing?'

Draco Malfoy, and several other Slytherins, followed Crabbe's gaze and looked over at the Gryffindor table across the Great Hall – and Draco's mouth fell open. Potter was holding up a piece of parchment with his hand, only that the parchment was _floating_ in mid-air, _without any support_ from below or above.

'What the –'

'Huh?' That was Goyle. Draco ignored him, still trying to process what he was seeing.

'" _It will be for Professor McGonagall to decide on these boys' punishments, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly,'_ Flitwick read out; Draco ignored him too.

Potter was doing wandless magic! He was actually doing wandless magic – right in front of his eyes! But how? How was this even possible? There was no way Potter had so much skill or power…or did he? Draco craned his neck to look either side of Potter, but there didn't seem to be anyone who was pointing a wand at that parchment. A moment later, he realised how utterly ridiculous that would have looked in the first place: it made no sense to show off 'apparent' wandless magic skills in such a situation.

But that meant…

Potter lowered his hand; the parchment followed it, descending slowly until it landed on the table. He looked tired – Draco could see him panting slightly, but he was grinning.

_Of course he was_ , thought Draco bitterly. _Just another thing for him to show off and be famous for._

The blonde Slytherin scowled, instead refocusing his attention onto the tiny Charms professor.

'" _I will not take any points from Gryffindor."'_

'Bah,' grumbled Montague, 'such favouritism towards Potter!' He scowled up at the Headmistress. 'As if she'd do the same for us.'

'To be fair, Potter's argument was sound,' said Bole. 'Not that I'm supporting him, of course!' he added hastily, as Montague glared at him.

The rest of the chapter passed amiably enough, but a little too slow and too much for those in the Hall – indeed, by the time Flitwick reached the part describing Gryffindor House's enthusiastic welcome for Harry and Ron, everyone was eagerly awaiting the end of the chapter. When at last Flitwick read the last words of the chapter ( _'Harry couldn't help it. He grinned, too.'_ ) some of the students broke out into applause. Others laughed at the expression of relief by their peers, but the noise died down as McGonagall got to her feet.

'We have finished reading today's quota of five chapters,' she announced. 'Lunch will be served shortly, after which all students shall proceed to their classes for the afternoon. Schedules will be distributed to each House during lunch.'

The Hall erupted into a babble of talk, discussing what they had heard from the first five chapters of the second book, just as the house-elves sent their lunch up from the kitchens below.

* * *

After their lessons had ended for the day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way to McGonagall's office – she was now occupying the office where Dumbledore had been, behind the stone gargoyle on the second floor of the castle. They were joined by Dumbledore, Snape, and Madam Bones.

Once they were inside, and settled in their chairs, Hermione began her speech: how the fourth chapter contained enough evidence to at least get Lucius Malfoy in for questioning, if not arrest him outright. Madam Bones, however, shot it down.

'We have made the same observations, Miss Granger,' she said, and Hermione turned red at the implied praise, 'but we have also concluded that we need more proof. We cannot move against Lucius Malfoy solely on these grounds – indeed, these may not even be valid grounds for questioning. To do so would be a legal nightmare, and a political suicide.'

Hermione's face fell slightly, but she nodded, nevertheless. 'Maybe we could get some more evidence in the next few chapters.'

'We certainly hope so,' said Dumbledore. Behind him, Snape let out a snort of amusement, but everyone ignored him.

'Speaking of evidence…' continued Madam Bones, her sharp gaze now trained upon Harry and Ron, 'you two are quite lucky that the flying car incident didn't make a huge mess at that time.'

Harry and Ron nodded shamefacedly; Harry could feel his cheeks burning in embarrassment.

'I will need to have a word with Arthur Weasley about those laws,' she said to the room at large. 'Some of those loopholes could be exploited quite easily and could result in dangerous situations.'

'You-you won't arrest him, will you?' asked Ron, a little fearfully.

Madam Bones looked at him, her monocle digging into her face as she frowned.

'No, we will not arrest him,' she said, and Harry could feel Ron sagging in relief. 'An inquiry has already been conducted and concluded – I see no reason for any further investigation.'

The office was silent for a few moments. Harry saw the portraits of the former Heads of Hogwarts looking on interestedly. Phineas Nigellus had quite a curious expression on his face.

'Well, if that is all, Miss Granger, you may proceed to the Great Hall for dinner,' said McGonagall. Hermione nodded, but before she could turn around, Harry spoke.

'Actually, Professor, there are a couple of things I wanted to talk about.'

Professor McGonagall threw him an inquisitive look, but said nothing. Harry took this as an indication of assent, and continued.

'I think the Ministry sent those Dementors after me last summer.'

Silence greeted that rather astonishing statement. Madam Bones was frowning at him, but McGonagall looked shocked. Even Dumbledore, calm and collected as he generally was, seemed rather disturbed by this. Harry didn't look round at Ron and Hermione – he knew they were gaping at him.

Only Snape wasn't affected by Harry's announcement; he let out a snort, and said, 'Potter, don't make up such nonsense –'

'It isn't nonsense, Professor,' said Harry, cutting across the Deputy Headmaster and silencing him. Snape glared at him, but Harry didn't bat an eyelid. His gaze moved over to Madam Bones, whose forehead was still creased.

'What makes you say so, Mr Potter?' she asked.

'The Ministry's attitude, actually,' said Harry rather unapologetically, even if he was speaking to the Director of the DMLE. 'Fudge and Umbridge have been trying to discredit me ever since Voldemort's return. What better way to do it than to make sure I had to cast magic in a Muggle neighbourhood?'

Madam Bones' visage turned thoughtful; beside Harry, Hermione let out a soft 'Oh!' Ron, however, looked confused.

'And,' continued Harry, 'During my trial, Umbridge was the one who suggested that we were insinuating a Ministry-ordered attack on me. I don't think anyone refuted that claim.'

Dumbledore was nodding along in affirmation of these words. He, too, remembered Dolores Umbridge voicing that allegation, but it was never pursued. He had instead thought of trying to convince Cornelius that Voldemort had indeed returned, using the Dementor attack as proof that someone else was probably leading them.

'It certainly seems plausible, Mr Potter,' said Madam Bones at last. 'I would have to do more investigations, though. I will get started on this today, once I return to the Ministry.'

Harry nodded, feeling that that was as good as anything. It was now his word against the Ministry; as much clout and public opinion he held by being the 'Boy-Who-Lived', he still had to get some solid evidence of Umbridge's wrong-doing.

'Also…' said Harry, once more, 'well, you just heard that Ron and I couldn't get onto the platform that year.' At Madam Bones' nod, he said, 'well, why didn't the Ministry wizards come forward to help us? Surely they would have seen us causing that racket outside the barrier.'

All eyes turned to Madam Bones at this question – it certainly was a good one, no doubt.

'And since they didn't,' spoke up Ron, 'what happened to them?'

Madam Bones shrugged. 'It's a good question, Mr Potter. I will need to check this as well – I will need to see who was in charge that day and get some answers. If you would give me until we finish the current book, I can make some enquiries and find out.'

'Alright,' said Harry.

'Is there anything else you three wish to add?' asked McGonagall; when they said no, she shooed them out of the office.

'What now?' asked Ron as they traipsed through the silent corridors.

'Nothing else for it, I suppose,' said Harry with a shrug. Truthfully, he hadn't expected Madam Bones to acquiesce to their request to initiate investigations against Lucius Malfoy; the evidence just wasn't enough. He did feel happy, however, at Madam Bones' promise to investigate the Dementor attack and the absence of the Ministry wizards at King's Cross that day. Hopefully she would find something.

'Let's hope we get something substantial on him in the next few chapters,' said Hermione. 'Meanwhile…' she turned to Harry. 'Maybe you should start practising, Harry.'

'What – oh,' said Harry, as he realised what she was talking about.

Ron, however, looked nonplussed. 'What are you talking about?'

'Harry can do wandless magic,' said Hermione.

Ron stopped walking and gaped at Harry. His mouth had, quite literally, fallen open.

'No way,' he breathed at last. 'You're kidding.'

Harry shook his head. 'I can, but I've only been able to levitate something till now. You know, consciously. I want to see if I can do anything else.'

Ron was still staring at him wide-eyed; Hermione had to drag him forcibly along with them in the direction of the Great Hall.

'It's just…it just feels surreal, you know,' said Harry at last, as they reached the top of the marble staircase. 'I mean…'

'Yeah,' said Ron, who seemed to have finally found his voice. 'But – bloody hell, _wandless magic_! You kept that quiet!'

'Shh!' hissed Harry. 'I don't want anyone else to know – I haven't even fully grasped it yet.' They began descending the stairs.

'Right, sorry.'

But what he'd said was true – it was a very surreal feeling, having a potentially useful and possibly dangerous skill. There were too many implications for this – what would the school do if they came to know of this? What about Voldemort? Could he, Harry, possibly use this in a duel against the Dark wizard? Would he able to focus then?

Harry gave himself a mental shake of the head: he was getting ahead of himself, thinking about Voldemort and duels. He had to practice this first – had to see how much of wandless magic he could actually do. If it was only basic spells and charms…well, those wouldn't be of much use, would they?

Scratch that, he thought as he entered the Great Hall. He had to do one other thing first, before his practice.

He had to speak to Sirius.

_To be continued…_


End file.
